Tosco to close

Jane Kay and Larry D. Hatfield, OF THE EXAMINER STAFF

Published 4:00 am, Tuesday, March 2, 1999

1999-03-02 04:00:00 PDT MARTINEZ -- MARTINEZ - Saying last week's fatal accident at Tosco's Avon refinery could have been prevented, the company's chief executive said the plant would be shut down for at least a month while Tosco probes the accident.

The company's several hundred workers will continue to be paid during the shutdown, which will be at least 30 days, said Thomas O'Malley, chief executive officer of the Stamford, Conn.-based Tosco Corp. He said the shutdown would take about two weeks to complete.

"I'm not going to bring this refinery back up if it can't be run safely," he said. "We can afford to shut it down."

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O'Malley did not say how the accident could have been prevented, indicating the 30-day closing would be aimed at not only determining the cause but reviewing the Avon refinery's overall safety procedures.

O'Malley said there was no equipment failure, saying,

"It was the human element." He said he always reminds workers they have the authority to individually close a project if safety demands it.

"We must apologize that we did this terrible damage," O'Malley said of the accident that killed four workers and critically injured a fifth. "Condolences sound trite but they are sincere.

"There's no way to justify a tragic event like this. The loss of human life is never acceptable. It's not part of our company's life.

"This was an accident, period. It could have been prevented."

Contra Costa County supervisors on Saturday demanded the shutdown of the trouble-prone Martinez refinery at least until the federal government concludes its investigation into last week's flash fire that killed four workers and critically injured a fifth.

The company rolled out its heavy guns - including O'Malley, company president Dwight Wiggins, and Larry Ziemba, manager of the firm's refineries at Avon and Rodeo - to face increasing county and community concerns about Tosco's safety record.

Some critics of the company, said by some to be the most dangerous refinery operator in the East Bay, are demanding the Avon plant be shut for good.

6 deaths in a decade&lt;

There have been six fatalities at the refinery in a decade, five of them in the past two years.

The supervisors met in private with the district attorney before Tuesday morning's open session. Fifteen members of the county civil grand jury also were in attendance as controversy grew over whether Contra Costa County should enact tougher new safety standards for its refineries.

Supervisor Mark Desaulnier, who said he believes Tosco officials have been less than straightforward with county officials in the aftermath of the latest disaster, said Tuesday the county was prepared to go to court and even the state legislature if necessary to get Tosco to agree to the shutdown.

Supervisor John Gioia said the county could pursue legal action by seeking to have the refinery declared a public nuisance.

Gioia, who appeared with Desaulnier on KTVU Channel 2, said other refineries in Contra Costa County operate at much safer levels than does Tosco. "It shows that the industry can operate safely," he said.

County officials have expressed concerns that there may be an ongoing danger at the plant to workers and to the community.

Other probes&lt;

There are a half dozen other local and state probes into the fire, as well as Tosco's own investigation.

There were sharp differences among the 300 people who crowded into the supervisors' chambers Tuesday morning over whether the refinery should be closed.

Tracy Blue, of Sacramento, whose brother Rollin died in last week's accident, was adamant that it should be shut down.

"My brother worked out there. My ex-husband worked out there. This place needs to be shut down for a period of time - not just during an investigation - but to take a look at the safety regulations and procedures," she said.

"A terrible thing like this should never happen again."

On the other side, Tosco employee Jeff Felix, a manager at the Avon refinery who has worked for the company 22 years, said a shutdown would cost jobs and actually increase safety hazards.

"A risk in everything'&lt;

"Nobody wants anyone to get hurt, but there's risk in everything we do," he said, arguing that shutdowns and startups of big refineries are complex and dangerous.

"When you start your car and shut your car down, those are the two hardest times on your vehicle. The same thing applies to mechanical equipment at a refinery."

Aside from increasing the risk of accidents, he said closing would put not only Tosco people out of work but those who supply material to the refinery and those who sell its products.

In fact, the state Department of Commerce's office of economic research estimates that the loss of 825 jobs from a shutdown of the refinery could translate into more than 2,300 jobs lost in the larger community.

The union has opposed tougher controls on refineries, maintaining such controls would leave safety decisions in the hands of politicians rather than refinery officials, the latter "the ones ultimately responsible to be sure it runs safe."

After a January 1997 explosion and fire that killed one employee and injured 26 others, Tosco was fined well over a half million dollars by the state and county for multiple safety violations.

Tosco also was blasted by the federal Environmental Protection Agency in that accident for poor training, unsafe equipment and risky operating procedures. The flash fire last Tuesday on a crude oil processing tower at Tosco's Avon refinery in Martinez killed one worker instantly. Three others died in the two days following the flash fire. The fifth remains in critical condition at an East Bay hospital.

The fire resulted when naphtha leaking from a broken pipe hit the heated surface of the tower and ignited.

A Tosco employee who operates the tower said last week that he was rebuffed when he recommended shutting down the 133-foot structure while repairs were under way, which Tosco critics say is standard safety procedure.

Tosco officials declined comment on Anthony Creggett's charge except to say that every employee has the authority and responsibility to shut down a job if it is unsafe to proceed.&lt;